January 19, 2014

Of all the appliances, one that would seem to have the least need for this is the refrigerator, since its only job is to maintain two or perhaps 3 CONSTANT temperatures. There is no need for updates, indeed they are unwelcome.

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Maybe if it could tell me while I'm out when I am out of something so I know to stop at the store. However, even if that could be made to work, I don't think it outweighs the risks involved with connecting the device to the Internet.

January 04, 2014

This Time For Sure

The Coast Guard CutterPolar Star is one of the most powerful icebreakers capable of reaching Antarctica. (The huge Russian atomic powered icebreakers can't cross the equator due to a quirk of their reactor design)

Fortuitously the American vessel is was en route to supply the Research station at McMurdo when the Australian government requested assistance in breaking free the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long which became hopelessly stuck while rescuing passengers from the Russian ice strengthened cruise ship Akademik Shokalskiy which, as we've been noting with considerable bemusement was on a scientific expedition to research global warming by studying Antarctica's retreating ice sheet...only to have the ice sheet rally, turn, fight and overrun their position.

The Polar Star, while nearly 40 years old, can break 21 feet of ice and has three times he installed power of the much larger Chinese ship so odds are good that they'll be successful.

Interestingly the Polar Star nearly wasn't available having been decommissioned in 2008 as worn out and beyond economic repair. However, it was decided in 2010 to put put a maintenance crew on the vessel rather than scrap her and ultimately the vessel was refitted to soldier on for several more years to supplement her sister and the larger but less powerful Healy while a new class of icebreakers is designed...and hopefully built.

1The huge Russian atomic powered icebreakers can't cross the equator due to a quirk of their reactor design.

That's a shame. IMHO, it might be worth paying the Russians to station one of those big boys in the Antarctic for situations like this, although the cost of even getting one down there would be mind-boggling (they'd have to tow it across the tropics, with its reactor shut down). OTOH, there would be the doubly-delicious irony of the next ice-bound ship-load of environmentalists being rescued by the Great Demon of Nuclear Power.

Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at Sun Jan 5 17:36:34 2014 (0KEH0)

2The huge Russian atomic powered icebreakers can't cross the equator due to a quirk of their reactor design

3The huge Russian atomic powered icebreakers can't cross the equator due to a quirk of their reactor design.
And now, I hark off to wikipedia to learn more of this quirk. Send help if I'm not back in a few hours...

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Interestingly enough, wikipedia didn't have the answer, I had to browse a few pages of google links to find the answer. I was expecting some weird quirk in the cooling circulation that would be screwed up by the tidal effects, but it's just that they rely on intake of very cold water.

January 02, 2014

Now that the passengers, both scientists and dilettantes have (thankfully) been rescued from the Akademik Shokalskiy I feel the need to come to their defense with limited snark.

I think they are getting a slightly bum rap.

The NYT has a piece denouncing the expedition as disrupting 'serious' science. The short version of this is that the rescue of this expedition is seriously impacting the logistics of other scientific endeavors on the frozen continent.

This is technically true as their article points out...French, Chinese, and Australian icebreakers were all in route to, or offloading supplies at base camps for other scientists when they were called to assist a vessel in distress. The NYT suggests that these endeavors were all more legit than the research being carried out by the self funded expedition.... They do note however that the expedition leaders are not novices at this...

But the bungled trip now threatens to
tarnish the wider field of Antarctic science.

Uh...huh..."tarnish"?

No.

The NYT is denouncing these recently quite highly regarded scientists because they encountered a (thankfully non-fatal) mishap that for their political allies has politically problematic optics. This may or may not be fair...but I'm pretty sure that the Old Grey Lady didn't have a problem with the expense and disruption involved in this.

Stuff can happen....especially in Antarctica...to the best equipped and most professional. Ask Captain Scott.

The Spirit of Mawson Expedition went into an extremely unpredictable area about which not a lot is known. THAT'S WHAT SCIENTISTS DO! They made a discovery, probably several, because, rest assured freezing and stranding the ship was not part of the plan. It was however SCIENCE happening all around them getting steadilly thicker and they observed it. Science often involves goeing into the unknown and that entails some risk. Antarctica is unpredictable and dangerous...that is why people don't live there.

Then there's this from the NYT article.

Particularly vexing is what seems to be a devil-may-care attitude expressed by some of those on the trapped ship.

Oh my stars and garters! Bravado in the face of danger! How gauche!
What the HELL else are they supposed to do...cry? Be overly dramatic regards what was did not seem to be a life threatening situation? Sit down in their footsie Pajamas drink cocoa and talk about health insurance? Oh...right...NYT.

Well...as far as I'm concerned this is a feature and not a bug. Props to these guys on that score at least. In fact it's cold enough there that even I wouldn't begrudge them footsie PJs! Besides, they did what scientists in the field often DO... they stuck with it, kept calm and kept observing. Read about Roy Chapman Andrews (Combat Paleontologist) sometime. The fear that they were so politically motivated that they would stay and get someone killed turned out to be unfounded. It looks like they did not flee prematurely nor too late.

Let's review...A freak storm and cold snap stranded their ship. Now because several of the scientists are allegedly* outspoken advocates of AGW theory and associated economically dubious mitigation efforts...and ALL of the on board patrons are, those of us who are a bit skeptical of their political stance on this issue had a good hearty laugh at the amusing irony of the situation, This is not that different from what our our political opponents did here and here...except for the minor detail that no one was laughing at innocent deaths.

That being said, while I think that much of the amusement on the right is understandable in that context, I think we should cut these adventurers a break.

" Halp! We're stuck in a 16 foot thick pile of Global Warming!"

A small break....

One of the non-economic complaints about AGW science is that it relies too much on models, which are only as good as the (necessarily incomplete) data put into them. The models don't seem to have been reliable in predicting recent trends.

These scientists went to an area that had been extensively surveyed about a hundred years ago but has been largely unobserved since in order to collect data on how it has changed over that considerable time...this is exactly the sort of research we want done. The scientists who led the expedition reportedly have a theory that carbon emissions are dramatically affecting the climate. So they went to test their theory in the field. THIS IS SCIENCE!

There seems to be much hand wringing over the fact that this expedition was funded by rich patrons who got a Antarctic vacation out of it (admittedly a much more exciting one than they anticipated). Well that is the way science was normally done for centuries. There's a limited pot of National Science Foundation monies and this delightfully free market model demonstrably works (this is proved by them getting there and discovering way more ice and colder temperatures than they thought. ) This sort of model seems a very good compliment to the generally successful NSF model.

Now...If the scientists had been looking for Antarctic space NAZI's and their saucers or something I'd be a little more sympathetic to the argument that their mishap disrupted legit research needlessly...but whatever political quibbles I might have with their patrons, they displayed the courage of their convictions with cash and their presence and I salute them for that. As for the scientists , they put together an expedition to a largely unknown area where they tried to TEST THEIR HYPOTHISIS.

...it is remarkably embarrassing, which is why the NYT is
so aggravated about the whole thing. To the point where they’re
retroactively trying to throw the expedition under the icebreaker. As
if it’s the Spirit of Mawson’s fault that the ice is still there…

* I've not found a primary source on this point.
Animated .gifs are from Nichijou, which is unrelated to this matter. It is also (like science) awesome & should bring a smile to the face of anyone regardless of political preferences.

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What I'm worried about is the crew of that ship. They didn't get pulled out; they're still there. That ship isn't an ice breaker, and its hull could get crushed. What if that happens when weather is too foul for another helicopter rescue? (Or what if there isn't a helicopter around at the time?)

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The ship is built in Finland and is ice strengthened. Pete suggested in an earlier comment that the ship could ride the ice Fram style, and even if they don't have a full Fram type hull that is a possibility. The crew is probably pretty sure it is sound or they would have left. With the passengers gone there is plenty of food. Summer is just starting so they think they can wait for a thaw. The last I heard the ice was over 16 feet deep, so barring an icequake ( admittedly a real possibility) the ship isn't going to crumple if it hasn't already. If they can save the ship they certainly should however I read somewhere that a British scientist has suggested that this bay is in the process of becoming a long term ice shelf...if that happens the ship may have use as a research outpost.